New Arts on 817 season starts

By Melissa Piche Times Contributor

The Arts on 817 Concert series is pleased to present La Fiammata One Piano Four Hands on March 9. This Pan-Canadian piano duo highlights the talents of Linda Ruan and Charissa Vandikas. 

This is the sixth season for the Arts on 817 Concert series and the year kicks off with an act that has been named Hot 30 Under 30 Canadian Musicians by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 

Linda Ruan has been playing the piano since she was seven-years-old and playing in the duo for nearly nine years now. Having lived in Tokyo, Shanghai and Vancouver, Ruan has adapted to new cultures easily over her life and found that her curiosity for new cultures has helped her hone in on her passion for the fine arts. 

“We titled this program Love Letter to Humanity,” said Ruan, who said they developed this program shortly after the pandemic when they were just getting to perform for people again. “It’s reconnecting with the incredible feeling of connecting with a live audience through music that we love.

“It’s a huge range of incredible, profound but also really fun music. We’re really excited to bring this program to Strathmore.” 

Their tour started in September 2023 in the Atlantic Provinces, traveled to the west coast – when they visit Strathmore, they will be on the prairie leg of their journey. From there they will finish up in Quebec at the end of April. 

Both performers are top prize winners in a number of different categories and their duo La Fiammata has gained international recognition as the winners of the Lancaster International Chamber Music Competition, Suzana Szörenyi International Piano Duo Competition, and the Northwest International Piano Ensemble Competition. They are traveling with the Pan Canadian Tour organized by Debut Atlantic, Jeunesses Musicales Canada, and Prairie Debut. 

Along with the feature performers, there will be a local Opening Act with this concert, which has had an incredible amount of support and success for the concert series. This time the opening act will be “A Potpourri of Piano Chamber Music” featuring students of Carolyn Steeves Piano Studio. 

Steeves is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Arts on 817, which was founded in 2017. To say she has a vested interest in the arts community is an understatement. 

“I’ve been really looking forward to this concert, because as a piano teacher I thought it would be really cool to have a piano concert on our series. And when I looked back on our series, this is our sixth year – we’ve never actually had a piano concert. And I thought ‘Wow how could that have happened?’ but it did!” 

Steeves said this is a particularly good time for her students to perform as it’s right before the Strathmore Performing Arts Festival, giving her students a chance to do some extra master classes in preparation for festival. 

The Opening Act will feature 15 students from Steeves studio … there are students in Grade 1 piano all the way up to ARCT (Associate Diploma) students. 

“There’s quite a range of levels (from) age 8-17,” said Steeves. “Everything that is being performed is an ensemble.”

Steeves explained that all the pieces she has chosen for her students will be group numbers to go along with the theme of La Fiammata. 

“I have students playing a piano quartet, that’s two pianos, eight hands. I have three groups playing trios, that’s one piano, six hands and I have four duet teams, she said. “I think it’s going to be really fun, actually.” 

She said her students have been preparing since October 2023 and have really been honing their skills since Christmas. 

“The hardest thing, when you start working with children on ensembles is getting them together,” said Steeves. “They’re ready to go and they’re very excited.” 

One exciting fun teaser for the Opening Act is that one trio will be performing with one of the performers from La Fiammata, which will be an exciting and once in a life time opportunity for these young performers.

The Opening Act starts at 7 p.m. with the headlining concert at 7:30 p.m. on March 9 at the Strathmore United Church. 

Tickets are $35 for adults, $10 for 17 and under and season passes can be purchased starting at $40. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time by visiting The Vault Cultural Collective or online (www.smoreuc.com).